ARIZONA

The
Lost Mine of Salt River Canyon

THE TALE

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Gila
County, Arizona lies in the southeast quadrant of the state
and was named for the famous river that forms part of its southern
boundary. The southwest part of the county is well-endowed with
mineral deposits and has a rich mining history. The town of
Globe sprang up around one of Arizona's greatest copper-producing
districts. The famous prospector and Indian fighter King Woolsey
discovered rich mineral deposits here way back in 1864. McMillenville
was a short-lived silver mining camp located about 7 miles northeast
of Globe. It is a ghost town now but at one time it was larger
than Globe. The town was named in honor of Charlie McMillen,
a prospector who discovered a nearby ledge of nearly pure silver
back in 1876. The mines near McMillenville produced millions
of dollars in silver before closing down in 1890.

McMillenville maintained a tenuous relationship with the
local Apaches. In 1882, the town was actually raided by a
war party of Apache Indians led by Nahtiahtiah. But in the
years prior to the raid, the town served as a trading center
for the nearby Apaches. In 1879, a man named Charles M. Clark
was living in this bustling silver camp. Residents of this
part of Arizona were accustomed to seeing rich silver ore,
and Charles Clark was no exception. After all, the great silver
strike near Superior occurred only 25 miles to the southwest.
That discovery took place in 1873, only three years before
Charlie McMillen's strike. One day in 1879, Charles Clark
got the opportunity to see some extremely rich silver ore.
The ore was brought in by an Apache Indian who found it near
a ledge "3 days journey to the northeast". It was a rich silver
sulfide, probably acanthite. Clark hired a tracker to follow
the Apache back to the silver ledge, but the Apache eluded
his pursuer in the rugged Salt River Canyon.

The Apache's silver mine was taken seriously by local prospectors. The famous Ed Schieffelin thought enough of the story to attempt a search in 1879. Schieffelin had prospecting in his blood. He was born in 1848, the year of John Marshall's momentous discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill. His father was a prospector in the goldfields of California and Schieffelin grew up learning the skills of the trade. He came to Arizona in 1876 or 1877 and almost immediately made a huge silver strike in the hills near present-day Tombstone. Schieffelin went on to prospect many other parts of the West. He was a restless wanderer and prospected till the end of his days. Ed Schieffelin died in the mountains of Oregon in the spring of 1897. He had been prospecting.

The Salt River Canyon country is incredibly rugged and does not easily give up its secrets. The Apache's silver ledge has never been found.

MINING HISTORY

Arizona has a venerable mining history. It is a land of diverse
geology, rich in mineral deposits. Mining began well before
the arrival of the Spaniards in 1540. Pre-Columbian Indians
mined native copper and turquoise for ornamental purposes
and azurite, malachite, and hematite for paints and pigments.
Various clays and natural ochres were also utilized by the
early Indians.

The Spanish came to Arizona searching for cities of gold.
They found no golden cities but eventually discovered that
the land itself was made of gold - or at least silver. In
1582, the Espejo expedition discovered rich silver deposits
near present-day Jerome. In the early 1700's, the incredible
silver deposits known as the "Planchas de Plata" were discovered
near the border town of Nogales. Huge sheets and nuggets of
pure native silver were found just lying on the surface of
the ground.

Other rich deposits were located by the Spaniards and then
the Mexican prospectors who followed them. By the middle of
the 1800's, the Americans had entered the scene. They did
so with a bang! The first bona fide gold rush in Arizona was
precipitated by an American prospecting party led by Colonel
Jacob Snively. The Americans discovered placer gold on the
Gila River, some 20 miles above its junction with the Colorado
River. The year was 1858. The next few years would see monumental
gold strikes throughout Arizona. Indeed, the decade of the
1860's was the "Age of Gold" in Arizona. Fabulous strikes
occurred at La Paz, on Lynx Creek, and in the Vulture Mountains
of central Arizona. The 1870's and 1880's were different.
Silver was now king as prospectors turned their attention
to the white metal. A flurry of rich strikes occurred including
the Silver King Mine at Superior, the Red Cloud and Clip mines
in the Trigo Mountains, and the Stonewall Jackson Mine at
McMillenville. When the silver ran out, a new metal reared
its head. Copper would prove to be Arizona's richest metallic
resource. Copper production in Arizona has far outstripped
that of gold and silver put together!